I’m angry: A post I wish I wasn’t writing

I’ve been angry and upset this week and my escape is writing. So what follows here are my frustrated thoughts, written down for anyone to find.

Last weekend I was at a popular bar on Chapel Street in Melbourne with friends having a lovely time until I fell unconscious. Luckily, I was not alone and my friends and my partner were there when I left my body for a while. My partner told me I came over to him, blurred speech and told him I felt funny and I thought something was in my drink. What happened next I don’t remember, except the change in how I felt was very scary. I have blurry visions of vomiting outside on the sidewalk and then of paramedics shining lights into my eyes and asking me questions.

I can’t remember getting from the bar to outside. I am told I was carried out by my friends because I could not walk myself.

Everything else that I know about from that night is from a secondary source (from my friends and my partner), yet I was there the entire time, which is unsettling. They tell me that it was frightening to see me how I was, that it was like I wasn’t there in my own body and they were so thankful that they called for medical assistance.

The next day is also a blur, when I woke up I was confused, upset and the sickest I have ever been. I spent 10 hours of the following day continuously vomiting and unable to understand what had happened or keep any food/water down. For days I couldn’t concentrate properly and had panic attacks when I left the house.

Someone had spiked my drink without me knowing.

It’s hard to think about, but I keep thinking how lucky (although lucky doesn’t seem like a word I should be using here) to have been with friends and my partner when this happened. It frightens me so much to think of the reasons why someone would do this to me.

It could have been much worse, but that does not take away from the fact that it happened. Too many times you see drink spiking ending very badly.

A few people have asked me how much I had to drink that night and this has frustated me the most – Getting your drink spiked from sick strangers has nothing to do with your own behavior.

We’ve followed up with the bar and with police but unfortunately the people who did this have not been identified yet. How sick to know that these people are free to continue visiting bars around Melbourne.

I’ve tried to research statistics on drink spiking in Melbourne or Victoria and it’s hard to find any numbers or reports, I truly hope this isn’t because people are not speaking out. If this happens to you (I honestly hope it doesn’t), please speak out, get help and let’s shine a light on this that it is not okay.

I’m not sharing this story for sympathy, it’s the last thing I want, what I want is for my Melbourne community and friends to be safe. I needed to vent and this space is a place that I have created where I feel safe and comfortable to do so…

If you are reading this I hope you take away this one thing: Never leave your drink unattended, never accept drinks from people you don’t know and look out for your friends.

Let’s hope and pray that the sick people who do this are found.

I won’t tolerate living in a place where people think this is okay.

Stay safe.

Shannon xo

Shannon Clarke - Editor, The Wild Hideaway

Shannon is a travel and lifestyle writer with a keen taste for global adventure – whether it be snorkeling in the waters of Fiji, or exploring the art and architecture of Barcelona. When Melbourne calls her back home, she spends most of her time exploring and planning weekend road trips. To fund all of her trips, Shannon is a freelance writer and marketer – she was named the Australian Young Marketer of the year in 2017!

Shannon thank you for sharing this story, I have heard this happen before to friends of friends in Melbourne and it really is sickening. Hope you are feeling better and your story is heard. Some people in this world just make me sick….

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